Daewon Song TWS Skate & Create Interview

Let's see what the cover recipient of the first-ever TWS Skate & Create issue has to say, shall we? Skaters and creators, it's the one and the only Daewon Song…

After all that work, what'd you think of the Skate & Create outcome?
It was so rad, man. Thank you and everyone else there. It was a lot of fun, but I'll bet there's a lot of hate circulating around now. Like, "Goddammit!" But hey, oh well, sorry.

(interview continued below)

(continued from above)

I don't think there were too many sore losers. Or did you hear something I didn't?
[Laughs] For me, it was all about those videos, man. Are you recording this? I don't know how we won, but oh well. I'm not gonna complain, Carleton. [Laughs] Seriously, I really enjoyed all of those videos—all of 'em. Even Miner's with the mirrors and all that stuff. I thought that was really, really creative. A lot of people didn't know how to take it, like, "Oh, it's too hard to see." But you can actually see it. Younger kids are crazy, man, they just want to see it. I thought it was amazing, but all those guys deserve a lot of credit. They're all judging it off videos when it was really a photo contest. So maybe that's why people are hating, like, "Blah blah blah, got robbed." You know what? Sorry.

I agree. Too many people want to see skateboarding without the "bullsh-t"—they don't feel comfortable seeing different interpretations.
Yeah, Miner was really trying to be unique. He gets credit for going for it.

How do you think the photos compared to the videos? Do you think there was a big difference?
Some of 'em translated really well. There was a Spanky one that looked really good. But others were hard to make out. I'm a pretty patient guy, but other people have no patience—they don't want to figure anything out. Like, "Hell, I have no idea," and they flick that page to the next page. Most of the photos came out really rad. That whole contest was really sick. I can't wait to get locked up in that warehouse again.

What do you think we should do next year?
Maybe you guys should change it up next year. There's gonna be new people, so doing it outdoors might be too complicated… or it might even be better.

Yeah, the playing field has to be even and fair for everybody.
Maybe don't have the same obstacles? But a warehouse is really easy to get stuff done. You don't have to worry about getting kicked out and you have all the time in the world. Doing it on the streets could be cool too, though. Like make a promo video out of it.

Did you ever think that over-vert would collapse on you?
You know what? It was sketchy at one point, but the way the weight distribution was, it seemed to be pretty safe. Even though there was just one two-by-four on the back end of it. That was pretty funny. I'm stoked.

Yeah. I ran into his wife at the Neckface art show and she explained everything. He really jacked it up.
F—k dude, at Podium.

Yeah, on that weird plastic basketball surface.
I heard he jumped off the ramp and started sliding out, then caught his toe in it. I guess he spun around… that's f—king nuts. Especially him, 'cause he so f—king solid. Watch yourself, man. O'Meally must be so pissed off at that budget-ass basketball court.

Well, you're headed to Podium right now, so be careful.
All right man, later.